All posts by Paul Raven

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How to be a successful science fiction writer

Besides actually sitting down and, you know, writing (which is the bit I always struggle with), there’s no precise science to getting science fiction stories published. over at Orson Scott Card’s Intergalactic Medicine Show, Carol Pinchefsky asks how much value networking has in the tight-knit international community of sf writers and editors.

Meanwhile, Jeff VanderMeer has the inside dope – all the successful genre writers are on drugs!*

[* In case it isn’t absolutely clear, both Mr VanderMeer and I are joking, OK? Joking. No lawsuits required. KTHXBAI.]

[tags]science fiction, writing, publishing, humour[/tags]
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Who clicks on banner ads?

pedestrian and beauty ad That’s a question I’ve asked myself more than a few times, and I’ll bet you have too. Danah Boyd also wants to know who actually clicks on internet adverts:

“A few years back, I asked this question to someone who worked in the world of web ads and I received a snarky (and condescending) answer: middle America.”

As sweeping a stereotype as it may be, it’s backed up by research done by AOL’s marketing people:

“Who are these “heavy clickers”? They are predominantly female, indexing at a rate almost double the male population. They are older. They are predominantly Midwesterners, with some concentrations in Mid-Atlantic States and in New England. What kinds of content do they like to view when they are on the Web? Not surprisingly, they look at sweepstakes far more than any other kind of content. Yes, these are the same people that tend to open direct mail and love to talk to telemarketers.”

Which leaves Ms Boyd asking questions about the ethics of advertising:

“I am not an advertiser and I’m not invested in making better ads. Instead, by raising this topic, I’m curious whether or not web marketing is capitalizing on a niche group and, if so, what the societal implications of this might be? If my hypothesis were true, what would it mean if marketing is profiting primarily off of those who are economically and socially struggling? How do we feel about this philosophically, ethically, and professionally? Would we feel proud of living off of a business model that targets the poor?”

It’s an interesting question – but I’m left wondering whether it’s really any different from the non-web ad industry. Hasn’t advertising always been designed to bamboozle the easily-led? But to extend Ms Boyd’s thoughts further, as the web moves inevitably towards being funded entirely by advertising, will it become the victim of its own success? [Via SmartMobs] [Image by Michale]

[tags]internet, advertising, marketing, demographics[/tags]
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Friday Free Fiction for 4 January

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Happy new year, Futurismic readers! Here’s your first dose of free fiction for 2008:

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A big lump-lot at ManyBooks.net:

[Just to reiterate the point, the above list (and indeed some of the below) would be impossible for us to compile on a weekly basis if not for cribbing vigorously from the hard-grafting folk at SF Signal, who have our deepest gratitude.]

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Via Nick Mamatas:

Happy New Year, and check out the latest from Clarkesworld Magazine!

“Debris Ensuing From A Supervortex” by Brian Ames.

And our feature article: Countdown to Singularity: A Conversation with Vernor Vinge by Shaun Farrell.

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Chris Roberson delivers Friday freebies yet again: “The Sky is Large and the Earth is Small“.

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Charles Sheehan-Miles wrote in to let us know that he has released the entirety of his alternate-near-future novel, Republic, free in all formats under a Creative Commons license.

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S.L. Viehl is using Scribd to host all her free-to-read fiction.

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Elizabeth Bear has posted of her short story “Tideline” (from the March 2007 Asimov’s) at her website.

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Podcast fiction! Audible offers “Could Be Worse” by James Patrick Kelly.

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It’s a bit thin on the ground for Friday Flash Fictioneers again, but there’s always a few of us defying such niceties as seasonal laziness … 😉

Neil Beynon delivers one of my favourites from his offerings so far: “The Edge Of The World“.

And in another one of those synchronous happenstances that seem to crop up so often in the world of FFF, both Gareth L Powell and I have stories involving salvaging, though in very different settings.

So take a visit to Gareth’s “Crash Site“, and then consider popping over to my blog and getting “Tagged“.

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And finally, a simultaneously funny and educational non-fiction bonus: The Annals of Improbable Research (also known as AIR) is the publication from the people who brought us the IgNobel Prizes, and it’s now available for free in lo-rez downloadable formats as well as old-school dead-tree media.

If you like genuine science and a good hard laugh, there’s no place you’ll ever find the two more closely meshed – consider that my personal recommendation! 🙂

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That’s your lot for this week, folks. Don’t forget to let us know if you see or hear of any free fiction you think we should be telling people about. Adios!

[tags]free, stories, fiction, online[/tags]
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WiFi flu

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Haxx0r3d-router As if we don’t already have enough “regular” viruses to worry about, a research team from Indiana University suggests that a specially designed computer virus made to attack and propagate on unsecured WiFi routers could easily infect entire cities.

While the risk is apparently only theoretical at the moment, the potential for trouble is a function of the rapid uptake in wireless technology; there are enough open routers about nowadays that the theoretical bug could hop all across town unimpeded. [Image by kludgebox]

People tend to forget that routers are just little computers, but you can bet the malware industry is well aware of it. That said, I can’t really see the commercial potential of such a virus* – and if it can’t be used to make money, surely it would be a four-week proof-of-concept fad for script kiddies at worst?

[* The inevitable disclaimer here is that I’m not a computer security expert by any stretch of the imagination – if you can explain in more detail, please do so in the comments.]

[tags]WiFi, computing, virus, malware[/tags]
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Other uses for sperm …

Sperm-and-egg … besides the one obvious use that has been known about for some time, of course. [Image from Wikipedia]

First off, it appears that certain proteins in the semen of fruit flies have the power to do more than just fertilize eggs: they affect the physiological behaviour of the female, making her produce more eggs and become less interested in sex with other males. Possessive husbands the world over can probably see a commercial application for that bit of research.

But here’s another: human sperm can move at a rate of seven inches per hour, which doesn’t sound too fast until you consider how tiny they are. The “flagellum” tail of a sperm is an incredibly efficient biological propulsion system at the microscopic scale, which is one of the reasons researchers are looking to recreate the same systems as powerplants for medical nanobots. [Via SlashDot]

[tags]sperm, molecular, biology, nanotech[/tags]